College Basketball: Seven Day Stretch

Rob Carpentier's "Seven
Day Stretch" is a whirlwind tour around every corner of college basketball
nation:

Seven Day Savior (Team):
Louisville Cardinals

This was a team that, while
they weren't exactly left for dead, were certainly playing much worse no more
than 10 days ago. Since then the Cardinals of Coach Rick Pitino have beaten
both Notre Dame and then #1 Pitt. The Cardinals are starting to commit
themselves to defense and are offensively finally taking what the defense gives
them. Up until the Notre Dame Game, the Cardinals shot from behind the three
point line as if they believed that they were all the second coming of Larry
Bird. That wasn't particularly bright for a team that does not have any
superlative outside shooters. In many ways that accounted for the losses to
Western Kentucky and Minnesota. However, in their past two games, the Cards
have focused on defense, rebounding and slashing to the hoop on offense. This
is still a team with too many holes to seriously consider them as a Big east
title contender, let alone a threat to make the Final Four. But for a week,
anyway, Louisville proved they can still, (consistently), run with the big dogs.

This dynamic duo is dominating
the Ohio Valley Conference. Reed, 6'5 senior swingman and Channels, a 6'3"
guard, are averaging a little over 19 and 17 points respectively. Reed is the
power player, shooting over 50% from the floor and leading the team in
rebounding with over 7 boards per game. Channels is the finesse player, hitting
over 44% from behind the arc. He is also averaging 3 assists per game. Against
Tennessee State last week, Channels scored 24 points and Reed chipped in with
19. The Govs haven't beaten anyone of note yet this year, but they played
Louisville tough for a while and played Arkansas very tough for the entire game,
both on the road. This is the kind of team that can cause some real trouble in
the first round or two of the NCAA Tournament. They play in a solid system and
they play defense, but the key to the Govs' success has clearly been the play of
their inside/outdie combo of Reed and Channels.

Game of the Week (The one
you already heard about): Baylor Bears at Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma looks to be the
runaway winner of the Big 12 and really have only two more hurdles to clear;
Kansas and Baylor. The Sooners have already defeated Texas A&M, Texas and
Kansas State and look like a real threat on the national level. Baylor has
quietly been running just under the surface of "name" teams this season, even
though the Bears are 13-3 and have defeated Providence, Oklahoma State, Arizona
State and Washington State, (on the road, mind you, no easy task). Baylor plays
the kind of frenetic game that could either lead to a blowout win for Oklahoma
or an upset victory for Baylor. The key to this game is which Baylor team shows
up on both the defensive end and behind the three point line. Baylor has the
ability to shoot themselves in or out of games. That shooting has the added
effect of motivating or deflating Baylor's defense; the better they shoot, the
better they play on 'D'. This isn't exactly the mark of a championship squad,
but it is the mark of a team that can pull off this kind of upset.

Game of the Week (The one
you DON'T know about): George Mason Patriots at Northeastern Huskies

Most people remember George
Mason from their surprising Final Four run in 2006. Well, the Patriots are
back. They are undefeated in the Colonial Athletic Association and have an RPI
in the 40's. Northeastern is a bit of a surprise. Other than a close road lose
to Hofstra last week, this would be a game of Colonial unbeatens. George Mason
comes into the contest at 14-3 while Northeastern is 11-6. The Patriots haven't
beaten anyone of not, (their best non-conference win coming against Ohio), and
they've only played one game against a team in the RPI top 50, Dayton. That was
a close four point loss for GMU. The Huskies, who are in the 70's in the latest
RPI, actually have played more teams of note; Michigan, Rhode Island and Memphis
were all blowout losses, but NU did beat Providence and Indiana on the road.
Northeastern is the home team and they've played much tougher schedule.
Frankly, adding to the level of interest in this game, the Huskies have to win
this one or they and the rest of the CAA are going to watch George Mason pull
away from the rest of the conference and win the CAA title. That is looking
like a bigger deal now that other traditional mid-major power conferences, (the
Horizon League and the MAC to name two), appear to be one bid conferences come
March when dance cards are handed out. Although both teams still have to face
VCU, the third member at the top of the CAA, this game will go a long way in
determining if the CAA is a one, two or three horse race.

Seven Days Under the Radar:
Northern Iowa Panthers

The best mid major conference
in the country over the past 10 years has probably been the Missouri Valley
Conference. Traditionally the Valley has been a two or three bid league when it
comes to the NCAA Tournament. However, this season, the Valley may be a one bid
league. The MVC is only the 8th ranked conference in the RPI; the Valley has
five teams in the RPI top 100, but the best, Illinois State, is only # 50, and
those numbers are going to get worse as the teams in the MVC knock each other
off. Enter the surprising Panthers. They have the worst RPI rating of any of
the aforementioned Valley squads, yet they sit in first place in the conference
at 6-1. Included in those wins were victories at Southern Illinois, (the first
time that's happened in more than a decade), at Creighton, (even longer), and at
Evansville. When you look at those wins you're shocked to see that UNI's onc
conference blemish was at home against lowly Indiana State. The thing that
makes the Panthers so formidable is the fact that they have five players that
average in double figures in scoring. They are led by sophomore guard Kwadzo
Ahelegbe, who is exceedingly quick and has the ability to go off for 28 points
in a game, which he's already done this season. More importantly, however, is
the Panthers' ability to defend. Most coaches will tell you that the most
important statistic defensively is field goal percentage defense. UNI is
holding opponents to 42% from the field, which isn't great, but its really
good. Last week the Panthers held Evansville and Drake to a combined 37% from
the field...on the road!!! As the season progresses, UNI's defense is getting
better. That bodes well for a team that has already won four games on the road
against some of the best competition the Valley has to offer.

Seven Days on the Hot Seat:
Paul Hewitt, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Its hard to believe that
Hewiit had the Ramblin' Wreck in the national title game less that five years
ago. Its seems like ancient history in light of Tech's recent woes. Since that
remarkable run to the finals, the Jackets have been to the NCAAs only twice.
That's not going to cut it in the ACC. They are the only winless team in the
league and after they host Boston College this weekend, they don't appear to
have any realistically winnable games on their schedule until mid-February.
There are definitely more than just a few rumblings coming out of Atlanta that
Hewitt may be on the chopping block after this season. He has, perhaps been the
victim of his own recruiting success. He definitely has raised expectations
because of his ability to bring in talent. He has consistently put together
some huge recruiting classes but then has seemingly not done anything with
them. Then, as these kids are starting to learn his system and grow, they jump
to the NBA, ala Javaris Crittenden and Thaddeus Young. Once again Hewitt's team
is being led by two underclassmen, forward Gani Lawal and frosh guard Iman
Shumpert and Lawal is a good bet to jump ship after this, his sophomore season.
What may save Hewitt past this season is that he has landed the consensus #1
recruit in the country, post player Derrick Favors...again, Hewitt can recruit.
For his sake, however, he had better learn to keep these kids around for more
than a year or he's going to be out of work.

Seven Days of Head
Scratching: Officiating Differences

I am a basketball purist and
as such I believe that the best officiated games are the ones where you don't
even remember who the refs were or the calls tat were made. Granted, too often
in today's game I se officials demonstratively making calls as if they were
going to be up for some acting award at the end of the season. However, (except
for the Pac-10), the major conferences have officials who make the right calls
and control a game in a way that allows the players to determine who wins. In
the past week I have watched some women's hoops and was singularly impressed
bout how fundamentally sound the play of the women was. Granted, women's ball
isn't as athletic, (lack of dunks, etc.), as the men's game, but they set better
screens and rebound with position compared to their male counterparts. in
short, I think the women are more fundamentally sound than the men. That's why
its a shame to see games, even at the highest level, be so poorly officiated.
It seems that I see more blown calls, (traveling, carrying and over the back to
name a few), and phantom calls in the women's games than in the men's. I know
that there isn't enough time in the day for the best men's officials to do the
best women's games, too, even if they wanted to, but there has to be something
better than what I've seen. Let's put it this way; it occurred to me this week
that the reason i don't wacth women's ball much is because the officiating is so
bad. If I'm thinking that then there re probably more than a few others out
there thinking the same thing.

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About Rob Carpentier

Contactrcarpentier3942@msn.com

Background

Rob Carpentier is a high school teacher and coach in St. Paul, MN. He has coached basketball at the high school level for close to a decade. His various freelance work includes writing for several college basketball sites.